In a far future Universe where Mankind wars with the alien Sanguinis, the Lord Marith Severian, one of Mankind's most celebrated generals, is sent on a mission to parlay with the Sanguinis' greatest leader, the Polemarch Martens. This is to be the first official contact with the Sanguinis in well over 100 years. Before the parlay, Lord Marith Severian is introduced to a mysterious stranger, a man whom Marith is surprised to learn will have full authority to negotiate for and on behalf of Mankind. Before the parlay commences, the stranger, a man named Michael, insists on telling the story of...